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Title: Obama: America's First Jewish President
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URL Source: http://www.nysun.com/blogs/latest-p ... ama-americas-first-jewish.html
Published: Jun 8, 2008
Author: Josh Gerstein
Post Date: 2008-06-08 15:49:50 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 347
Comments: 19
by Josh Gerstein Bill Clinton was America's first black president. Or so we thought. Until recently, John Edwards was running to be America's first woman president. Now, shocking word that Barack Obama may be in line to be America's first Jewish president. Discussing his affinity for Israel, Senator Obama tells the Atlantic magazine, "I've got it in the gut." He describes his own thought process as agonized (dare we say neurotic?) in a way that some might view as quintessentially Jewish. And he professes an "enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel" that would make an Aipac board member jealous. "Sometimes I'm attacked in the press for maybe being too deliberative. My staff teases me sometimes about anguishing over moral questions. I think I learned that partly from Jewish thought, that your actions have consequences and that they matter and that we have moral imperatives. The point is, if you look at my writings and my history, my commitment to Israel and the Jewish people is more than skin-deep and it's more than political expediency. When it comes to the gut issue, I have such ardent defenders among my Jewish friends in Chicago. I don't think people have noticed how fiercely they defend me, and how central they are to my success, because they've interacted with me long enough to know that I've got it in my gut," Mr. Obama told the magazine. The senator from Illinois and likely Democratic presidential nominee also traced his ties to Jewish writers, thinkers--and even camp counselors. "I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers, even though I didn't know it at the time. Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris. So when I became more politically conscious, my starting point when I think about the Middle East is this enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel, mindful of its history, mindful of the hardship and pain and suffering that the Jewish people have undergone, but also mindful of the incredible opportunity that is presented when people finally return to a land and are able to try to excavate their best traditions and their best selves. And obviously it's something that has great resonance with the African-American experience," the senator said. So, even if Americans are ready for their first black president, are they ready for their first Jewish one? For what it's worth, back in January, a Huffington Post contributor posited this play by Mr. Obama. And even earlier, Mayor Giuliani seemed to be seeking the mantle of the breakthrough Jewish candidate.
Poster Comment: The man knows who butters his bagel.
Obama: America's First Jewish President
Mon, 12 May 2008 at 9:21 PM 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 6.
#2. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
(Edited)
is there any doubt whatsoever who owns obama? i'd really like to know from whom his campaign $$ have really come. surely, we cannot believe that the majority of it hasn't come from the lobby. millions from grassroots individual donors? i think not. now, about that foreign policy "change that we can believe in." ;)
Did you know that the information was readily avialable? It's HERE. It's better to take a look and find the smoking guns before writing 'is there any doubt whatsoever...?' Of course there are doubts and there should be doubts about everything but, sometimes, making use of available information helps. By the way, I don't buy the idea that contributors 'own' a politician. There was recently a discussion on this forum having to do with the Stormfronters contribution to Barr being rejected. We were in general agreement that citizens have the freedom to support whomever they want and there was a positive quote from Ron Paul, stating that when people give him money, it's them picking him, not he picking them. It is my impression that a small but cohesive group of screamers have managed to degrade the quality of the debate on this forum - see the post immediately following yours for a good illustration - and some more intelligent contributors are letting them get away with it, because it is convenient to do so since their inarticulate screaming appears be in agreement with their views. I am sorry to see this happening.
what i meant by my comment is that it is my belief that obama is owned by AIPAC and the IsraelFirsters just as is every other establishment politician. see Justin Raimondo's latest denouncement of obama for the same reason. obama's own words, cited in this article, confirms it, in my mind.
Obama can't defeat AIPAC all by himself, especially not while he is a candidate. There is some evidence that the radical Zionists and the Neocons find Obama to be the least desirable candidate for US prez. Can he openly tell the AIPACs to stay away from him? Of course not. He IS a Demo and he does wish to be elected - remember what they did to Buchanan. If Obama is elected I do not expect to see the American Jews herded into concentration camps or for the US aid to Israel being cut down to zero - but he could surprise us all. I also do not expect Obama to send our boys and girls to die when Israel or AIPAC says so.
#7. To: ALL, *Racist 2008* (#6)
Obama is so full of it. Africans Americans are NOT finally returning to their homeland. Far from it, more Africans are coming to America everyday. Obama seems to always try to bring race into the equation when race has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Why? Because Obama is a racist.
we'll (justin and i) will have to agree to disagree with you. ;) I have to say I was wrong – dead wrong – about Obama. In my eagerness to find a bright spot in a rapidly darkening world, I grasped on to his alluring rhetoric and his at-times trenchant critique of the Bush foreign policy, like a sinking man holding on to a life-jacket. But looking for hope in all the wrong places doesn't create opportunities for peace – it only prolongs our illusions. We must face the prospect of a much more terrible conflict than we have ever known, and look it squarely in the face, without flinching or looking for false messiahs. I know many of you are disappointed, and some of you are now exclaiming "I told you so!" All that we can do now is hope, and pray, that our country – and the Iranian people – will somehow survive the coming catastrophe. Justin Raimondo
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"I've got it in the gut." He describes his own thought process as agonized (dare we say neurotic?) in a way that some might view as quintessentially Jewish. And he professes an "enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel" that would make an Aipac board member jealous.
#4. To: christine (#2)
(Edited)
is there any doubt whatsoever who owns obama? i'd really like to know from whom his campaign $$ have really come. surely, we cannot believe that
#5. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#4)
(Edited)
#6. To: christine (#5)
Replies to Comment # 6. So when I became more politically conscious, my starting point when I think about the Middle East is this enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel, mindful of its history, mindful of the hardship and pain and suffering that the Jewish people have undergone, but also mindful of the incredible opportunity that is presented when people finally return to a land and are able to try to excavate their best traditions and their best selves. And obviously it's something that has great resonance with the African-American experience," the senator said.
#8. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
I also do not expect Obama to send our boys and girls to die when Israel or AIPAC says so.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.